College Basketball Game of the Week (Senior Night Edition)

This week we say goodbye to two players who have given a lot to Purdue. I will have more on the Senior Night of E’Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson later in the week. The game of the week is obviously the game Tuesday when the Boilers take on Illinois at home. This will be the final time both Moore and Johnson play in front of their home crowd. On paper this game should not be too bad for the Boilers. They handled Illinois very easy in Champaign, and you would think things would be easier for Purdue at Mackey. This is the Big Ten though, and anything can happen on any night.

It is kind of weird to think that the regular season is almost over. It seems like just yesterday my basketball tickets came in the mail. I had a huge pile of tickets wondering how I would ever get to all of these games. As it turned out I made it to quite a few of them. Now the pile is one ticket for Tuesday nights game. It is a bittersweet moment, but also an exciting one knowing that tournament time is coming up. Hopefully I can get to a few of the post season games to root on the Boilers. It would be awesome to make the trip to Houston to see them play two years in a row.

Another big game this week is the Senior Night happening tonight at the ARC. Valpo has had a good season that has kind of gone south after the big game Saturday against Missouri State. They had a packed house, and Dickie V calling the game. They showed the country that they were a good team, and put their name into the conversation for the NCAA Tournament. Since that time though they have had some issues dropping two straight games. The game tonight is big for the seniors, and also big for the season. I will be there to root on Valpo. Hopefully they can get things in order going into the preseason.

Men’s Picks of the Week - Last week I went 12-3 to bring my season record to 147-35. I put too much stock into Valpo for my own good last week. Their two losses during the week really brought me down a bit. I am still happy with my overall record, and hope that I can keep it up. On a positive note I did pick two upsets last week. I had Purdue beating #2 Ohio State, and West Virginia taking down #7 Notre Dame. The Purdue pick was more of a hope than a rock solid prediction. I know how the team can play, and hoped that they would do just that. The Notre Dame pick was based on what West Virginia did to the Boilers. This week I have no upsets picked. I thought about taking Nova over the Irish, but I think the home crowd will be the difference there. I really will be rooting for Indiana when they play Ohio State this week. I hate IU as much as the next guy, but I hate OSU as well so having the chance to pull even with them in the standings is big. Purdue does not have a cakewalk this week. They play Michigan State in East Lansing, and then Illinois at home. My game of the week is the game Tuesday. A lot of factors make that score tough to predict. The quick turnaround from Sunday and any injuries could play a huge factor. I will predict the score just the same though. A shot in the dark is always a shot in the dark you know. Here is how I see the week playing out.

Minnesota over Michigan

Illinois over Iowa

#8 Purdue over Michigan State

#12 Wisconsin over Northwestern

#3 Ohio State over Indiana

#3 Ohio State over Penn State

Michigan State over Iowa

Northwestern over Minnesota

#12 Wisconsin over Indiana

#9 Notre Dame over #14 Villanova

#9 Notre Dame over Seton Hall

Valpo over Illinois-Chicago

Missouri State over Wichita State

Game of the Week: #8 Purdue 76 Illinois 61

Women’s picks of the week - Last week I came back to normal and went 6-5. I have really had a tough time predicting these women this season. That brings my overall record to 113-59 on the season. Purdue really hurt me winning the game I picked them to lose, and losing the game I picked them to win. They were 0.7 seconds away from going 2-0 on the week. This is the final week of the regular season so the list will be short. I may go for broke and try and predict the tournament. I can’t do any worse than this can I? Here are the games that I picked this week: